A Friend from the Past
by Puppylove7
Summary: A girl from Ryoma's past comes to Japan and starts playing in the tournaments with the guys. As time goes on Ryoma starts to change, is she the cause of it?
1. Chapter 1

**.Author's Notes: **This is the first chapter of my new fiction. I was not the one who came up with this plotline, but I was given permission to write it. Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this fiction.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Prince of Tennis or its characters. I don't even own the plotline, but I was told I could use it. This applies for all chapters because I'm too lazy to type it in every chapter.

Chapter 1

"This is the last call for the flight to Kanagawa." A lady announced over the intercom

'_Crap, I'm running so late.' _A young girl around the age of twelve thought to herself as she ran the airport, weaving her way through the hoards of people in her way. After a few minutes of running, the terminal she needed came into view.

'Great, I made it just in time.' She thought as she got into the line of people waiting to board the flight.

"May I please see your ticket and passport?" A lady asked as the girl made it to the front of the line after a bit of waiting.

"Sure." The girl said as she took the two items out of her bag and gave them two the lady.

"You may proceed." The woman said after she checked the two items before giving them back to the girl. After she got her stuff back, she went to board the plane. When she gets on the plane she scans the aisle to find the seat that she was supposed to be sitting. Once she found it, she instantly noticed that the other person was already seated in the seat beside her, thus blocking her way.

"Excuse me, but I need to get through to my seat."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there." The other person said as they got up and let her through to her seat. After she got her stuff in the overhead compartment and got seated, the plane took off to take them to their destination.

'_Ryoma, I'm coming to see you again, so please wait for me'_ she thought to herself as the plane took off.

**Author's Notes: **Well, this is the first chapter to my newest story. I'm sorry that it is so short, but this is basically just an introductory chapter to let you get a feel for some of my OC's characteristics. I will go more in depth with her later on. I will also try to make the chapters a bit longer too. Well, anyways, I will update again when I can.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter two; I hope that you enjoy it. Just so you know from here on out anything that looks like "this" is Japanese talking and anything that looks like "**This**" is English.

Chapter 2

After a very long flight, the plane finally made it to Kanagawa. As the girl entered the airport, she started to search for her cousin who is supposed to meet up with her to take her to his place.

'_It is nice to finally be off that plane, but now I have no idea where I'm going in here.' _The girl thought to herself. After walking around for awhile and not finding where she needed to go, the girl finally decided to ask somebody for directions. After a minute of searching she found somebody she thought could help her out.

"**Excuse me, but can you tell me where the baggage claim is? I'm supposed to be meeting somebody there.**" The girl got only to get a blank stare.

'_Oh yeah, I'm in Japan now, not America. These guys don't speak English. I guess I'll try again in Japanese.' _The girl thought to herself

"Excuse me, but can you tell me where the baggage claim is? I'm supposed to be meeting somebody there." This time the girl got a response from the person.

"To get to the baggage claim go downstairs, turn right and continue going right. You will eventually find it."

"Thank you very much." The girl said as she turned and headed for the escalator that would take her to the lower level. After she eventually got to the lower level, she turned right as instructed and continued going in that direction until the baggage claim came into view. As soon as she approached the baggage claim, she heard somebody calling out her name.

"Hey Alli, over here." After hearing that, she turned to see her cousin and some other guys that she didn't recognize. Without thinking, Alli started to go over to the group of boys.

"Hey there Bunta. It has been a while since we have seen each other, hasn't it?" Alli said in a very happy voice.

"Yes it has. I haven't seen you in almost five years, which is pretty sad considering we are cousins."

"Yeah, that is kind of sad, but that doesn't matter now because I'm here now and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. By the way, who are they?" Alli asked pointing towards the rest of the group.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you earlier today when you called that they would be here, anyways these guys are Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi." He told to her as he gestured toward each of their names.

"Well, hello you three, my name is Allison Murai, but you can call me Alli."

"It's nice to meet you, Alli." Yukimura said with a smile on his face.

"Hello." Yanagi said. The only thing she got out of Sanada was a nod indicating that he had heard what she said.

"Well, since everybody is introduced, why don't we get going? My family is expecting to at least see us soon, whether we stay home or not is a different story. Anyway, what I'm saying is that we can't delay much longer."

"Alright, then let's go." Alli said as she headed towards the first set of doors that she saw and was relieved when they followed because she knew she was going the right way. When they got outside, it had donned on her that there was nobody to pick them up.

"I don't want to sound stupid, but how exactly are we supposed to get home? As far as I remember your house is way too far to walk."

"We are taking the train of course. Why would you ask something so ridiculous?"

"Bunta, did you forget that where I'm from they don't have trains such as the subway?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that."

"Well, now that that is cleared up, which way are we supposed to be going?" Alli asked as she hopped onto Murai's back like a hyperactive child, almost causing him to lose his balance.

"Alli, what are you doing? Get off of my back."

"Aww, come on, you let me do this last time we saw each other."

"Yeah, that was when you were seven and much smaller. You are getting too big for this."

"Now you are calling me fat? You are so mean." Alli whined as she began to hit him on the chest. After a while of the little display, Yukimura that it would be best to get moving before the two attracted themselves some unwanted attention.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your amusing display, but we should get going before you two attract attention to yourselves." Yukimura said as he, Sanada, and Yanagi watched the two act like little children.

'_This will make for some nice data.'_ Yanagi thought as he watched the display going on in front of him, just before Yukimura stopped them.

"Alright, but I will ask again, which way are we going?" Alli asked from her new spot which was standing to Murai's right.

"We are going that way." Yukimura said as he pointed to the left.

"OK, THEN LET'S GO!" Alli basically yelled as she took off running in the direction that she was directed to go.

"Alli wait…" Muari said, but it was too late, she was already gone.

'_Things are going to get really hectic from this point on.' _Murai thought to himself as he picked up the luggage that his cousin had left behind as he hustled to catch up with her and his three friends.

**Author's Note:** Well, that is the end of chapter two. I really hope that it was enjoyable for you. I would like some feedback on this because this is my first time using the Rikkai team members, so I want to know if I managed to do at least a decent job keeping them in character. Anyways, I will update this again when I have time to. Please leave me a review, it inspires me to update quicker.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Here is chapter three. I really hope that you enjoy it.

Chapter 3

The group was now off the train and was heading to their own houses that is until Alli spotted a couple of Tennis courts along the way.

"Hey, you guys play tennis, don't you? We should so play sometime." Alli said as she watched a match that was already in progress.

"Maybe some other time Alli. We need to get going before my parents begin to question where we are." Murai said as he led his cousin back in the direction that they were originally heading.

"Alright." Alli said as she followed behind the four boys. They didn't get very far because one of the guys who had just finished playing a match called out to them.

"Hey girl, play a match with me."

"Hey man, why are you challenging the girl when there are four guys with her?" The guy he was playing against asked him.

"You aren't from around here, so you wouldn't know this, but challenging those four to a match is a death wish. This girl on the other hand looks like she won't take much to beat." The guy said only to hear laughing coming from two different people from behind him. He turned around to find both Alli and Murai laughing.

"Do you two find something to be funny?"

"Actually, yes I do. If you think I'm bad, then you really don't want to mess with her. She can be very scary on the court if she is serious." Murai said as he started to calm himself down.

"Is that so? Then why don't you prove what he said is true?"

"You know what; I'm going to make things a bit more interesting. Why don't both of you play me in a two on one match?" Alli said in a stern tone.

After Alli made the suggestion both guys looked at each other then back at Alli and responded to her request.

"You're on little girl, but don't start crying when you lose."

"I don't think that will happen." Alli said as she got her racket from the bag that she was carrying on her shoulder. Before she could even take a step, she felt a hand on her shoulder, so she turned to see who it was and what they wanted from her.

"Alli, make it fast. We really need to get home soon." Murai told her.

"No problem. These two don't look like much. I should be able to beat them easily." Alli said as she turned and started to go to the court. When she made it to the court, she met with her opponents at the net.

"Are you two ready?"

"Yes, and to be nice, we are willing to give you the first serve."

"Suit yourselves, but you may regret that choice later." Alli said as she got into position to serve. After about ten minutes maximum, Alli had totally annihilated the two before her, both of which were now lying on the ground unconscious and covered in various bruises.

"Alright, let's go home now that I have wiped the floor with those two. I think I just them a lesson and that is to never underestimate a girl." Alli said as she walked past the guys going in the direction that they were going in to begin with.

"Does she always play like that? It was kind of violent, wasn't it?" Yukimura asked Murai when Alli was further ahead of the group.

"That was very mild compared to how she usually plays. She wasn't even trying at all; basically, she was toying with them the entire time. Murai answered as he watched his cousin stop and wait for them to catch up with her.

After a little while of walking, Sanada and Yanagi parted ways with the others to go home themselves. After another ten minutes of walking, Yukimura had stopped walking.

"Well, this is my house. It was nice meeting you Alli. I hope to see you again sometime soon." Yukimura said to the girl.

"It was nice meeting you too; also, you will be seeing me again sooner than you think because I'll be attending Rikkai starting next week."

"Well, isn't that nice. Murai, I'll be seeing you at practice tomorrow, as for you Alli, I'll see you again soon." Yukimura said as he turned and started walking toward his house.

"Yeah, I'll see you again sometime." Alli said to the person who was now going into his house for the night.

"Well, we should keep going. We are running late, I'm actually a little surprised that my parents have not called me yet asking where we are. Murai said as the two started walking.

"You know, it is kind of strange considering it is around dinner time." Alli said as she looked at the watch around her wrist.

"Oh well, we are almost home anyway, so it doesn't really matter."

"Good, because all of a sudden I'm feeling really tired. I just want to go to sleep." Alli said after letting out a giant yawn.

"That isn't surprising considering you be pulling an all nighter if you were home instead of here."

"Jet lag really sucks."

"Believe me, I know that already." Murai said to his cousin.

After a few more minutes of walking, the two finally made it to their destination. When they entered the house, they were automatically greeted by the smell of dinner and a very overjoyed woman.

"Welcome home Bunta. Oh my, it has been such a long time since I have seen you Alli and you have grown so much. I'm happy to be able to see you again."

"It's nice to see you again too." Alli said in a very tired tone.

After noticing that the poor girl looked so tired the woman let go of the girl. "You look so tired. Why don't you take your stuff upstairs and go to bed for the night? We can catch up tomorrow."

"Ok, I'll see you in the morning." Alli said as she went to grab her stuff to take it upstairs.

"Don't worry about carrying this, I'll carry it for you." Murai said as he grabbed her bags and carried them up the stairs for her.

"Thank you Bunta." Alli said as she followed him up the stairs and to the room that she would be staying in for quite some time.

"Well, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight Alli."

"Goodnight Bunta." Alli said as she crawled into the bed and fell asleep the instant her head hit the pillow.

**Author's Notes: **Well, here is the third chapter of A Friend from the Past. I'm sorry for the slightly delayed update, but I had stuff going on and I kind of didn't feel like typing out the chapter that was already written out, so I guess I was being a little lazy. Anyways, if you feel up to it or have the time, please leave me a review to tell me what you think. I will update again soon, hopefully.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter four. Before you start reading, I should warn you that I left out the match that was in this chapter because I'm not that good with them, so I apologize ahead of time for that. Anyways, please enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 4

It was morning and the sun was beginning to shine through the window of a certain girl who was lying in her bed asleep.

'_Is it morning already?'_ Alli thought to herself as she tried to shield her eyes from the sun coming into her bedroom window. With her efforts of trying to keep the sun out of her face being failed attempts, Alli sighed and decided to just get out of bed. Before heading over to her bags to get some clothes to change into, Alli looked at the clock on her nightstand to see that it was only six in the morning.

'_Why am I up so early? I have no idea what I'm going to all day considering Bunta has class and practice today, so I can't hang out with him until later.' _Alli thought to herself with a sigh as she rummaged through her clothes to find something that she wanted to wear. After a few minutes, Alli decided on a dark blue hooded tee shirt and a black pair of shorts to go with it. To go with them, she chose a pair of dark blue socks that stopped at her ankle and a pair of black tennis shoes with dark blue shoelaces. After she was dressed she looked in the full body mirror and decided that she looked good with the exception of her hair which was still a mess. She ran a brush through her long golden locks and pulled them into a ponytail with her favorite dark blue hair ribbon. After deciding that she looked presentable, Alli left her room and headed downstairs to get something to eat for breakfast. As she got downstairs, she wasn't surprised to see that others were already up and about. As she entered the kitchen she was greeted by its other occupants.

"Well, good morning Alli. Did you sleep well?" her aunt asked her.

"Good morning and yes I did sleep well. Thanks for asking." Alli responded back to her aunt before she heard somebody else's voice.

"Good morning Alli. What are you planning on doing today? If you don't have any plans then you could always join me at morning practice."

"I don't really have anything planned until later today. I was going to pay a surprise visit to somebody."

"You are talking about Ryoma Echizen, aren't you? Anyways, if that is all you have plans to do today, then come with me this morning. After practice you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day."

"Alright, that sounds good to me, but are you sure the other will be ok with it?"

"I don't see why not, it's not like you will be in the way of practice and it will give you the chance to meet everyone."

"Alright, I'll come with you this morning. Just let me finish eating before we leave."

"Well hurry up because I really don't want to be late."

"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying, geez, what is wrong with being a little late? It isn't like it's going to kill you if you are a few minutes late."

"You never know, it could."

"Whatever, I think you are being overly dramatic."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew the consequences of being late."

"Well, I don't know them, so I don't know what happens, but I'm ready to go, so let's go." Alli said as she headed towards the door.

"Oh yeah, should I bring my tennis gear or should I leave it here?"

"Good question, I'll leave that up to you to decide, but please make the decision quickly."

"I think I will take it with me just in case. I mean you never know what will happen." Alli said as she ran upstairs to grab her tennis bag.

"I'll be waiting for you outside." Murai called out to her as she up the stairs. A couple minutes later the two were on their way to the school. As the two made it to the school they automatically went over to the changing rooms so Murai could change out of his school uniform and into his tennis one.

"Wait here while I get changed."

"Ok." After a few minutes, Murai returned now wearing her yellow tennis jersey, looking at the watch around his wrist and saw that he only had a minute to get to the courts before he was considered late.

"Come on, we need to hurry up and get over there." Murai said as he snatched his cousin's wrist and started dashing towards the courts as fast as he could. When they made it to the courts they were greeted by none other than Yukimura himself.

"I'm glad you could join us Murai, but next time try to be on time. For being late, you have earned an additional fifty laps to go with the original fifty, so congratulations on that." Yukimura said to Murai as he then looked over at Alli. "Alli, it's a pleasure to see you again. I'm guessing that you came to watch our practice?" Yukimura questioned the said girl.

"Yeah, I did come to watch." Alli replied back.

"If you only wanted to watch then why do you have your gear with you?"

"To be totally truthful, I'm not sure. I may actually go destroy some street tennis punks when I'm done here. I mean I don't have anything to do until later, then I'm going to go pay an old friend a visit."

"That's nice, but since you have it with you, why don't you join us? I've seen you play and I think that you should be able to handle it."

"If you insist, I guess I could give a go."

"Well then go put down you bag and get started on the laps like everybody else."

"You aren't serious, are you? I have to run the one hundred laps too?"

"No, you get the fifty laps. Murai gets double for being late."

"Alright, I guess I will run the laps then." Alli said as she put her bag on a bench and started her laps while taking her iPod out of her pocket and putting one ear bud in and leaving the other out. After a running a short distance Alli easily caught up with her cousin and the others.

"Bunta, I now see why you didn't want to be late. Despite his appearance and his behavior, Yukimura is a monster." Alli said to her cousin.

"He isn't the only one you know. By the way, why are you running laps anyway?"

"Really? Who else do you consider to be a monster? Oh, and I'm running laps because I want to. I was given the choice to sit and watch or to join in and being a person who doesn't like to sit still, I chose to join."

"Let's just say that Sanada can be just as bad. Is that so, how many laps is he having you do?"

"You know, I didn't expect those two to be that bad, but I've been wrong before and I'll probably be wrong again. Also, to answer your question, I'm only running the fifty laps. Good luck with your one hundred laps." Alli said as she pulled ahead of him and continued running.

"Who was that senpai?" Kirihara asked as he watched her run past them.

"That was my cousin Alli. She just got into Japan from America last night."

"Cool, but why is she running laps with us?"

"Evidently she wants to. She has always been a very energetic person, so this should be a good way to channel some of that excess energy."

"That is nice to know, but I wonder if she will last through all fifty laps." Yanagi added to the conversation.

"I don't think she will have any problems running the fifty laps because that girl runs almost every morning for a lengthy amount of time. In other words, she has a lot of stamina."

"We'll see just how much stamina she has." Yanagi said as he continued his laps along with the others.

After some time of running Alli had began her final lap.

'_Alright, this is the final lap. Let's hurry up and finish this.'_ She thought to herself as she rounded the first corner. Little did she know she was being watched by two people.

"I'm a little surprised that she made it this far. Just looking at her you wouldn't think that she would be able to last." Yukimura said to the only other person who was finished with their laps.

The only response that he got from his companion was a nod to affirm that he heard what the boy had said. Just as the two finished their little exchange, Alli had finished her final lap and was coming up to them.

"Well, I'm finished with the fifty laps." Alli said not even sounded slightly winded while looking at something on her cell phone.

"Well done, now all we need to do is wait for the rest of the regulars to finish with the laps which shouldn't be much longer. But I have to ask, how come you don't even look the slightest bit tired after running those laps?"

"Well, Yukimura, those fifty laps were nothing compared to how many I was forced to run in my old school."

"Is that so? How much did you have to run there?"

"Well, let's just say that my old captain was the devil and always assigned one hundred laps as a normal morning warm up, but since I had a knack for being late and always annoying her until she wanted to yank her hair out, I was forced to extra laps all the time and our courts were about this size too." Alli said in a matter of fact tone of voice as she went over to her bag and put her phone and iPod with it.

"I'll have to keep that in mind then." Yukimura said as he watched the girl go over to her bag.

"Can one of you tell me where the bathroom is?" Alli asked as she walked back to where the two boys were standing."

"Of course, do you remember where the boys' locker room is?"

"Yes, Bunta made me wait next to it when he went to change. Why?"

"Well, the girls' locker room is right next to it."

"Ok, thank you Yukimura. I will be back." Alli said as she jogged off toward where she was directed.

'_There it is.' _Alli thought to herself as she approached her destination. After finishing up in the restroom, Alli returned back to the courts to find that everybody except her cousin and some other guys she did not know. As she stepped back onto the courts all heads turned to her.

"What? Why are you guys staring at me?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it, but since you are back we can get a move on." Yukimura told her.

"Ok, whatever you say." Alli replied although she was still skeptical of the situation. Shrugging it off she went over to the group of guys and waited for further instructions.

"Alright, all the non regulars move to courts B, C, and D and the regulars will stay here on court A." Yukimura commanded. After that was said, everybody with the exception of the regulars and Alli moved to where they were told to go.

"Um, where am I supposed to be going? I'm not a regular. I'm not even a member of the club or a student in the school yet for that matter." Alli asked

"You are staying here with us. I've seen you play and I have reasons to believe that if you play seriously that you would be strong enough to at least give us a challenge."

"Well, thank you, but I don't think I'm as good as you give me credit for, but I do know that I'm pretty good for a twelve year old girl."

"Alright, we will start with practice matches and this is how the matches will go Niou and Yagyuu, Sanada and Yanagi, Jackal will play Murai when he finishes his laps and Alli, you will be playing against Akaya."

"Alright, so which of you is Akaya?" Alli asked not knowing anybody except Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi from the group surrounding her.

"That would be me and it is Kirihara to you."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. Anyway, it is nice to meet you Kirihara. Let's have a good match." Alli said as she grabbed a navy blue racket from her bag.

"It looks like somebody is ready to go. I wonder just how good the girl is." Niou said as he watched the girl get her racket with a slightly more serious face that before.

"Well, if the captain says she is good, then I'm guessing she has some skill and with him as an opponent, I hope for her sake that she does." Jackal said as he watched as Alli served the first ball of the match.

"A twist serve right off huh, she is actually playing seriously for a change." Murai said as he approached the rest of the regulars.

"How exactly do you know what her serious play is Murai?" Jackal asked not taking his eyes off the match.

"I know because I'm her cousin and I have played her several times."

"Well, that explain show our captain met her why she is here." Yagyuu said watching as Alli accidently hit Kirihara causing him to go to devil mode on the girl. After quite some time, the match ended and both players were lying on the ground looking like they had just gotten out of a brawl. But that didn't last long as Alli picked herself up off the ground and walked over to Kirihara.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked slightly concerned, but the concern disappeared when he sat up.

"I'm fine."

Let me help you up." Alli said as she extended her hand out for him to take.

"Thanks." Kirihara said as he accepted her offered hand and got off the ground.

"That was a fun match. I haven't played anyone as strong as you in a long time. To think, if it wasn't for that lucky shot in the end you would have beaten me."

"You won't get off so lucky next time. I will win for sure."

"We'll see about that." Alli said to him as she put her racket back in her bag and took out a towel and a water bottle. After using the towel to wipe her face and draping it around her neck, she opened the bottle and started drinking from it.

"That was a great match, a little violent, but good nonetheless. We really need to work on that a bit. You can't go around beating people up like that, it isn't lady like."

"Thanks, but I wasn't expecting him to be so gosh darn tenacious. That match took way longer than I expected it to. Also, since when have I ever acted lady like?"

"You have a point there. I mean what kind of lady would have a mud ball fight with the boys, throw worms in other girls' hair, and play with bugs?"

"Let me think about that one for a second, none other than me that I know of." The two cousins continued their conversation completely oblivious to the odd looks they were receiving from the other around them. That is until Murai got drug away by Jackal for their match.

A nice amount of time of time had passed and practice had ended and the boys had to go to class, so Alli collected her bag, iPod, and cell phone and was getting ready to leave when she heard a voice calling her.

"Alli, I know that you already have plans for today, but are you available for practice tomorrow morning?" Yukimura questioned her.

"Yeah, I don't usually have plans in the morning."

"Well, then you should practice with us, it could really benefit you as well as the team."

"Ok, I'll be here tomorrow morning and I'll make sure that Bunta and I are on time because as much as I don't mind running tons of laps, I'm sure that he doesn't want them."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow morning then." Yukimura said with a laugh.

"Yeah, you know you should really be getting a move on and go to class before you are late. I will be here tomorrow." Alli said as she left the school for her next destination.

'_Well, that was a fun practice, but now I need to find something to occupy my time until Ryoma gets out of class. I guess it is time to go sightseeing until I need to head out to Tokyo.'_ Alli thought to herself as she walked down the sidewalk.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter four. I hope that you enjoyed it at least a little. Please leave a review to tell me you thoughts on this fiction so far. Also before I forget I have a poll posted in my profile about some fictions that I will be writing sometime in the future and I want you readers to choose which ones will be written first, so please help me out and vote in the poll. I will be updating this again soon hopefully.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes: **Here is chapter five. I really hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm sorry for the slight delay in getting this out, I will try to get the following chapters out a bit quicker.

Chapter 5

Alli was sitting in a café enjoying a caramel latte and a slice of chocolate cake.

'_This really hits the spot when you've endured a practice like that and have been out exploring a city all day.'_ Alli thought to herself as she stared out the window watching as people and cars passed by heading for their destination. But her looking out the window didn't last long because she thought that she felt somebody staring at her from behind, so she turned to take a look and sure enough, she saw an older guy looking at her.

"May I help you with something?" She asked as politely as she could manage at the moment.

"Ah, you can speak Japanese. Anyways, I was just wondering why a girl your age is not in school right now."

"That is none of your business, now if you excuse me, I have to get going now." Alli said as she got up and started to leave but stopped when she felt the guy grab her wrist to stop her from leaving.

"Wait a second; I'm not done asking questions yet."

"Well, I'm done listening, so let go of me, you creep." Alli said as tried to get her wrist free from the guy's grip, but it was too strong, so she did something that she usually doesn't do, she slapped him with as much force as she could muster while speaking with more force.

"I said to let go of me." The slap and the harsh tone were enough to make the guy let go and she made her way out of the café and ran some ways down the street before she finally stopped to see that he was nowhere to be seen.

'_That was scar. I thought that guy was going to do something bad to me back there.'_ Alli thought to herself as she saw that she was at the tennis courts from the other day, a smile forming on her face. After looking at her watch and seeing that she still had a few hours before she could go see Ryoma, Alli decides to see if she could find anybody willing to play a match against her. When she approached the courts, there were some people there.

"Is there anybody willing to play a match with me?" Alli asked as she approached the group that was standing on the court.

"Sure, we will play you, but you have to have a partner because we only play doubles." Two of the people said.

"I don't have a partner, but if you are will allow it, I'm willing to play you both in a two on one match." Alli said trying to get them to agree.

The two looked at one another and then back at Alli before speaking. "We're sorry, but we don't want to risk causing you injuries and we don't think you could last against both of us together."

"That's too bad, I was really hoping to play at least one match while I was here." It was then that she spotted the pair from the prior night, but she didn't realize that that was who they were.

"Hey, so you two want to have a match with me?" Alli asked in a hopeful tone.

"No way kid, not after what you did to us yesterday."

"What did I do to you yesterday?" Alli asked as she thought back to the previous day. "Oh yeah, I remember now. You are the guys I beat last night. Sorry about how that turned out, you see I wasn't in the best mood when I played you two and I tend to get a bit violent when I'm in a foul mood." Alli said with a sheepish grin on her face while scratching the back of her head.

"Even if you say that, we won't play against you, but I am willing to team up with you for a bit. You do know how to play doubles, right?" The one guy asked.

"Yes, I do know to play doubles. Thank you for teaming up with me, by the way, I'm Alli, Alli Marui to be exact. My I know the name of the guy who is going to be my partner?"

"Sure, my name is Haru, Hasegawa Haru. My friend there is Harada Akio."

"Well, Hasegawa, thank you for teaming up with me. Now let's get a win." Alli said as she sat her bag down and took out her navy blue racket. After everybody was ready to play, it was decided that the other team would serve first. After some time of playing, Alli and her partner emerged victorious with a score of 6-4. Now that the match was finished, the group was sitting around chit chatting with each other.

"Marui San, you aren't too bad for a grade school kid." One of the people that she played against said.

"Thank you, but please call me Alli and I'm actually a first year in junior high. Oh yeah, I don't know your name or your partner there."

"Wait, you are a junior high student? I'm sorry, I didn't realize that. Also, I didn't properly introduce myself, my name is Nakamura Kazu and that is my sister Mai. I'm a second year junior high student and she is a first year junior high student, but since we just moved here, we aren't registered in a school just yet."

"Is that so? I just moved here myself from America. Well technically I didn't move here, I'm staying with my cousin for a while. But I will be starting in Rikkai next week."

"Is that so? Then we might be seeing more of each other because we are supposed to be students there in a couple days. Who knows, maybe we will be in the same class." Mai said in an excided tone.

"That would be cool. At least there would be a familiar face. By the way, Harada and Hasegawa, what school do you guys go to?"

"I'm actually home schooled, but if I were in a school, I'd be a third year junior high student." Hasegawa said to Alli.

"As for me, I'm a second year junior high student and I attend Seigaku, but I decided to ditch class to hang out with Haru there." Harada said

"You go to Seigaku? Maybe you can help me out then. I'm supposed to be meeting somebody there after class, but I'm not really sure where it is."

"Oh, that is easy, actually, I live close to the school, so I can show you the way while I'm on my way home."

"Alright, that would be great, thank you so much Harada."

The group then continued their conversation until it was time for Alli and Akio to take their leave.

XXXX

Alli was now standing in front of the gates of Seigaku, but she had no idea where she was supposed to be going to get to the tennis courts, so she decided to ask a random student for help in locating them.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where the tennis courts are?"

"Yes I can, they are behind the school. You can't miss them."

"Alright thanks." Alli said as she started to go behind the school and sure enough, the tennis courts were easy to spot. When Alli approached the courts, she instantly saw who she was looking for, she wanted to call out his name, but she restrained herself from doing that because he was in the middle of a match and she didn't want to distract him, so she decided to watch silently. As she watched the match, she began to think to herself.

'_Ryoma has gotten better, but the guy he is playing against is really good too. He can easily counter all of Ryoma's smashes with just one move. Just who is he?' _She continued thinking until she was drawn from her thoughts when she heard somebody speaking out to her.

"I've never seen you around here before. Can I help you with something?"

"No, but thank you for asking, I only came here to see somebody, but he is a little preoccupied at the moment." Alli said to the guy that was talking to her. The guy had green eyes and his hair had a style similar to a bowl cut only shorter and had two bang type things dangling over his forehead.

"If that is the case, then it must be then it must be Echizen or Fuji you are here to see."

"That's right; I'm here to see Ryoma. I'm guessing that the guy that he is playing is Fuji then? He is really good."

"Of course he is. He is Seigaku's tensai after all."

"It makes me wonder who will win, Ryoma or Fuji."

"We are all wondering the same thing. Just who is stronger, Ochibi or Fujiko? Nya, Oishi, who is this girl anyway? I have never seen her before"

"To be truthful, I don't know who she is. She just appeared here out of nowhere."

As the two were talking, Alli looked up to the sky while thinking to herself _'It's going to rain soon'_. Right after she finished that thought it started to downpour and everybody started to scramble to get everything cleaned up and to get to shelter except two individuals who were continuing their battle on the court that is until they were stopped by an older looking women. _'I'm assuming that that lady must be their coach.'_ Alli thought to herself as she watched Ryoma and Fuji get scolded for continuing their match even though it was raining. She then watched as everybody was heading inside as she stayed where she was. She was a little surprised when she heard somebody yelling at her.

I don't know who you are or why you are here, but I can't let you stay out here, so come on and get inside already." Alli only nodded as she followed the lady inside away from the rain. As she got inside the building, the first person she saw was Ryoma and Alli could not hold back her excitement any longer.

"Ryoma!" Alli yelled as she ran and tackled him to the ground while holding him in a strong embrace. That was enough to catch everybody's attention and caused many questions, assumptions, and accusations to form.

**Author's Notes: **Well, that is the end of chapter five. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Also, I would like to apologize for taking so long to update. I don't want to create excuses, so I'll just get to the point, I totally lost interest in writing this for the longest time, but I'm back again and hopefully I will be able to update again soon. Another thing before I end this, if you haven't already, please vote in the poll in my profile, it would really help me out. Well, I will update again when I can, which hopefully will be soon because I have already started the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Notes: **Here is chapter six of A Friend From the Past. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 6

"What the hell? Get off of me." Ryoma still slightly shocked from being knocked down so randomly.

"Ryoma, don't you remember who I am?" Alli said in a saddened tone.

After hearing that, Ryoma took a closer look at the girl that had him pinned down. After realizing who she was Ryoma spoke again.

"Alli? What are you doing here? Also, can you get off of me?"

"I'm here to see you obviously." Alli said as she got off of Ryoma while helping him off the ground as well.

"No, I mean why are you here in Japan?"

"Oh, I'm here staying with my cousin for a while and I figured that since I'm here, why not come pay you a visit?" Alli explained.

"Ah…" Ryoma was about to speak, but he was cut off by his overly hyper redheaded senpai.

"Hey Ochibi, is she a friend of yours and why is she here anyway?" Kikumaru asked

"She is somebody I went to class with in America." Ryoma said in his typical tone.

"My name is Alli Marui. It is a pleasure to meet you guys."

"Did you just say Marui?" Kikumaru asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"Do you know Marui Bunta from Rikkai?" Oishi asked.

"Yes, of course I do. He is my cousin. Why do you ask, you don't have anything against him, so you?"

"No, not anything against him, it is just that Rikkai is known to be the strongest team and we are bound to run into them some time if we make it that far."

"That's a relief. I was thinking that you had something against my cousin and the others. If you did, then I hope that wouldn't have changed your opinion of me, not that you have much of one as of yet anyway."

"Alli was it?" Fuji asked with his usual smile on his face.

"Yes?" Alli asked while turning toward him.

"I'm assuming that since you are staying with your cousin who happens to be a student at Rikkai that you are a student there as well, also, judging by the fact that you have tennis gear with you that you are part of the tennis club."

"Well, actually, I'm not a student there as of you. You see, I start classes there next week and yes, my plans are to join the tennis club. By the way, I saw your match with Ryoma and I have to say that you are really good. I haven't seen anybody push him that hard since the last time I played him."

"Well, of course he is good. He isn't called a tensai for nothing." Kikumaru said.

"I'm guessing that you are good yourself if what you are claiming is true." Fuji mentioned as he continued to look at her.

"Well, yes, I would like to believe that I am, but if you have your doubts, then why don't you ask Ryoma himself? He could tell you." Alli said while drawing all of the attention away from her and sending it toward Ryoma.

"So Echizen, is what she says true?" Momoshiro questioned his kouhai.

"Yes, she is actually really good for a girl." Ryoma said as he looked over at the said girl to see what kind of response she would come up with.

"Say what you want Ryoma. You are just jealous of me because you can't seem to beat me."

"That was in the past. I bet I could beat you now."

"I will admit that you have defiantly gotten better since the last time that we have played one another, but I too have improved. So what makes you think you can beat me?"

"Why don't you prove it?"

"Ryoma, you know I would gladly do so, but not in this weather. I think I will pass for the time being, maybe later when it isn't pouring down rain out there." It was then that her cell phone went off causing her to look at her caller ID to see who was calling her. "Excuse me, but I should probably take this." Alli said as she walked off, leaving the group of boys to question Ryoma some more.

Now off in a quieter location, Alli answered her cell phone.

"Hey Bunta, what did you need?"

"I'm just calling to make sure that you are safe from the storm."

"I'm fine. I got stranded at Seigaku while seeing Ryoma. I will come back when the weather dies down enough for me to walk in it."

"Alright, I will see you later then."

"Yeah, I will see you when I get home." Alli said as she hung up her phone and put it back in her pocket and started to head back to where everybody else was. When she returned, she saw that they were still bugging Ryoma with questions.

"You guys love to pester people, don't you?" Alli asked as she returned to the group and saw them hoarded around Ryoma who looked quite irritated.

"Well, it looks like Alli is back." Kikumaru said after he heard her voice.

"Yeah, so what were you bugging him about anyway?"

"We were just asking about his past with you, but he won't answer us. Maybe you could answer the questions for us?" Kikumaru questioned.

"That depends on what you want to know."

"Well, when you said that he couldn't beat you, was what you said true or were you saying it just to make him mad?" Momoshiro asked her.

"Well, to be totally honest, it was a bit of both. While what I said is true, I only brought it up because I know it irritates him and I just felt like pushing his buttons a bit. But anyway I will explain a bit on that. You see, when we were young, Ryoma was the one who played tennis. I was not really into it back then. I only started playing when I saw him playing it. At the beginning, I was not very good and could barely hit the ball, but as time went on I got better, much better and I was able to actually beat him. I guess you could say that Ryoma was the person who inspired me to play and to never give up no matter how hopeless everything seemed at the time. Because of him, I am the player I am today and I'm quite grateful for that."

"That is some very interesting information and a touching story. I would like to see you play sometime. Fuji mentioned after hearing Alli's little story.

"I would be glad to show you my skills someday, but I can't tell you when that would be because after I start classes and actually start club activities I won't have as much free time on my hands. I'm pretty sure you know exactly what I mean." Alli said as she turned to look out the window. When she looked out the window, she saw that the weather had died down quite a lot.

"Are you able to meet up with us tomorrow or later on this week? You seem like an interesting girl and I wouldn't mind watching you play or playing you myself either." Kikumaru said to Alli.

"I would if I could, but I have things that need to be done before I start classes. Also, I my cousin want to spend at least some time with me after classes, so I don't know when I will be able to, but rest assured, I will come back to visit sometime soon. But as for now, I think I should take my leave now that the weather isn't as bad." Alli said as she grabbed her bag and exited the building, thus starting her trek back home.

**Author's Notes:** Well, that is the end of chapter six. I really hope you enjoyed it. I would also like to apologize for the late update, but I lost interest in writing this story and my other stories for a while. But I'm back in the mood for now, so you should be seeing more updates for the time being. Anyways, if you want to or have time to I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter or the story as a whole so far. Also, just a reminder that I do have a poll set up in my profile for you guys to vote in if you are interested. It would be a great help for me if you voted. Anyways, I will update again when I can and I hope that you continue to read this story.


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